Belgium welcomes the Flemish nationalist Brat of Wever as Prime Minister

Belgium has a new Prime Minister whose political objective has long been to attack the unity of the nation, to empty the structures of the State and to give more autonomy to Flanders to the detriment of rest of the country.

Bart de Wever was sworn in early on Monday, looking straight to King Philippe, the last monarch of a royal house which he often disgusted because it symbolizes the concept of Belgian unity. He swore allegiance to the king.

This is another indication that times change, and that bold requests for Flemish independence have given way to the hope of a progressive change and a new balance between Dutch -speaking Flanders, with 6.7 million Inhabitants, French -speaking Wallonia, with 3.7 million, and this multilingual Brussels of 1.2 million souls.

The Prime Minister and the main ministers were sworn in in Dutch and French, while several other members on both sides of the linguistic fracture remained faithful to their own language during a short ceremony at the Royal Palace.

“We cannot (…) participate in a government and wait for the system to be called into question. I never believed that, “he told Standaard’s newspaper. “The other option is to participate when you can and get things for your community, and that’s what we have done.”

“When you don’t participate, you certainly leave empty-handed,” he added.

Linguistic questions have been present in the country since the last century, while the nation dominated by France has gradually gave way to a balanced political scene, the industrial prowess of Wallonia declining while the Flemish economic power gained momentum.

Mr. de Wever, from the Flemish nationalist party N-VA, succeeds Alexander de Croo, who has remained in office as an interim minister since the June elections of last year. The Prime Minister of Wever joined his colleagues leaders of the European Union at a summit in Brussels later on Monday.

In a press release, the N-VA promised that the government will assain the budget, will implement a fair social policy, will reward work, implement the strictest migration policy ever seen, abolish the exit from nuclear and invest in the security.

A subject immediately emerged: the question of a joint government. While Mr. de Croo had reached an almost age between men and women, Mr. de Wever has only three women in his team.

Mr. de Wever brought together an eclectic mixture of five parties to get out of the seven -month deadlock in the coalition negotiations. The Flemish nationalist only had the chance to succeed in forming a coalition only because the Socialists of the PS, the political enemy of Mr. de Wever, lost their hold on Wallonia, which had been acquired for generations. This allowed him to conclude an agreement with the MR party.